Dr Kate Birchenall is a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist and senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle, NSW, and Honorary Senior Lecturer with the University of Bristol, UK.

She undertook the majority of her clinical and academic training in Bristol, UK, completing a PhD investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying human labour, including metabolomic and phosphoproteomic studies, and working with the Born in Bradford cohort. Her research has since focused on understanding the mechanisms that determine gestational duration and translating these into new approaches to predict and prevent preterm birth.

She is Chief Investigator of PIONEER, a UK NIHR/MRC-funded multicentre randomised controlled trial investigating pravastatin for the prevention of preterm birth. Her wider research interests include improving pregnancy outcomes and equitable access to high-quality maternity care across diverse communities, including the effects of environmental heat on pregnancy and collaborative maternal health research.